Rebol simplifies Web scripting

The man who designed the Amiga operating system, Carl Sassenrath, has launched a Web scripting language to rival C++.

Rebol (Relative Expression-Based Object Language) is a network messaging language, which is said to be easier to use than C++, Java and Perl because it uses English "expressions". According to the company, Rebol has been "designed to revolutionise the exchange and interpretation of information on the Internet".

The language directly handles primary Internet protocols such as email, Web and FTP, and no additional bundled networks or applications are needed. Typical Rebol applications might include Web site building and maintenance, ecommerce, file transfer, list management, newsgroup processing, email filtering and Web searches.

Rebol/Core V1.0 is 100 per cent platform and operating system independent, according to its founder. The system supports the AmigaOS, BSD, Linux Red Hat, Debian and Slackware, Macintosh, Solaris 2.6 Sparc and Windows 95/86/NT platforms.

Sassenrath explained: "Developers and the technologists have been short-changed by existing languages and trapped in a quagmire of unproductive, bureaucratic complexity. All other programming and scripting languages are computer-centric languages. Rebol, on the other hand, is human-centric. The introduction of Rebol heralds a new era in which people control their computers, not the other way around."

The creator of Perl, Larry Wall, explained that he saw Rebol as "just one more way to do something useful". He added, "I'd say the more, the merrier."

Rebol is available free for download at www.rebol.com.